MLive.com file photoPetition signatures for ballot proposals may seem grass roots, but in the case of the 2/3 tax vote proposal, most were gathered by paid signature collectors.

If you think a proposal on the November ballot requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise taxes was put there by a grassroots, tax-limitation group, you’re wrong.

Proposal 5 is another maneuver by billionaire Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun to try to stop construction of the proposed New International Trade Crossing bridge linking Detroit and Windsor.

The proposal made the ballot thanks to the signatures Moroun’s paid workers collected and a state Supreme Court order overturning a Board of State Canvassers rejection of the proposal.

Moroun created a faux grassroots group, Michigan Alliance for Prosperity, to push for the proposed constitution amendment.

All but $1,000 of the $2,289,921 raised by Michigan Alliance for Prosperity through July 20—the latest reporting period--was contributed by Liberty Bell Agency Inc. in Warren, according to state campaign finance records.

Moroun’s son, Matthew, has been a manager at Liberty Bell Agency, a Sterling Heights insurance claims adjustment agency, since 1994, according to Reuters.

Proposal 6, which would require a statewide vote on the NITC bridge to Canada, also is backed by Moroun.

All of the $4,657,500 in cash raised by “The People Should Decide,” a campaign committee backing the measure, was contributed by DIBC Holdings Inc., which owns the Ambassador Bridge.

Despite an agreement that calls for Canada to pay Michigan’s $550 million share of the $2.1 billion bridge (even Queen Elizabeth is a party to the agreement), Moroun is attempting to shut off any potential spending by the state on a new bridge.

His motivation is simple: He wants to maintain his near monopoly on handling car and truck traffic traveling between Detroit and Windsor.

But passage of Proposal 5 could cause serious collateral damage to the state’s economy.

It could tie the hands of the Legislature to raise money to fix the state’s deteriorating roads and bridges, or make investments in higher education, cities and other things that make a state an attractive place to live.

The proposal also could widen the partisan divide in Lansing, making the Legislature even more dysfunctional.

“On some days you couldn’t get a two-thirds vote in the Legislature on what time of day it is,” said Rich Studley, president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.